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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25572709">look at you, without a clue</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/aesphantasmal/pseuds/aesphantasmal'>aesphantasmal</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Penumbra Podcast</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(more detailed warning in notes), Angst, Blood, M/M, Other, Violence, mega ultrabots of cyberjustice spoilers, ok the depictions of violence arent that graphic but better safe than sorry, so maybe i am a nureyev apologist. what of it</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 02:43:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,657</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25572709</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/aesphantasmal/pseuds/aesphantasmal</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A while after Juno Steel woke up to find the other side of his bed empty, he enters an enemy facility alone.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>66</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>look at you, without a clue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>ok so this contains a physical fight between two people in a relationship so if you need a more specific cw to avoid triggers check the end notes</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Juno could hear every footstep he took as he walked through the facility. They seemed to echo around the large concrete ceilings and corridors, almost ringing in his ears. He knew Rita was just a comms call away, but he'd never felt as alone as he did in that moment. He'd agreed to raid this facility on his own — this was only a small group, nothing he couldn't handle, and the other four were needed elsewhere. So, here he was, a one-lady, one-eyed mission to raid an adapted warehouse millions of miles from home.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The first person Juno saw was a lone guard walking along a corridor that crossed his. They were stunned before they even had a chance to notice Juno, and he pulled their unconscious body aside. They were wearing a mirrored face visor and mask— probably to avoid facial recognition — and plain black clothing similar enough to Juno's current outfit that he didn't feel the need to change. He just grabbed the visor and mask, a key card he found in the pockets, and dragged the guard into an abandoned janitor's closet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The visor didn't fit him perfectly. It was a bit too big, and Juno could see the corner of a display that was clearly intended to be seen out of his good eye. Still, it fit well enough to fool someone at a quick glance, and Rita had double,triple, and quadruple checked that the facility had no cameras.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Someone once told him that the key to getting into somewhere you didn't belong was to act as if you </span>
  <em>
    <span>did</span>
  </em>
  <span> belong there, soJuno stood up straight and confidently walked in the direction of the main room. Juno made his way further in, thanking whatever higher power might exist that he had memorised the map for once. The other guards barely looked at him, and only gave him a brief nod if they did. It was only around five minutes before he was swiping the stolen keycard to get into the main room of the facility.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The main room was taller than most of the rooms in the building, with a staircase and walkway leading to doors on the first floor. They had been there long enough to rust, though they must have been sturdy enough to do their job. The door he entered from was underneath the walkway. Directly opposite the door — the other only real feature — was a table with several computers and a familiar case resting on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Juno walked towards the table. Then, without warning, something hit the side of his visor, leaving a long scratch in it, then hit the ground behind him with a clatter. He looked down to see a throwing knife. He looked up at the walkway, and his heart stopped dead for a second.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The black clothes the guards wore from head to toe obscured most of their distinguishing features. The visor and mask obscured the rest. But Juno would know that long limbed silhouette anywhere.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Juno hadn't seen Nureyev leave. He'd been fast asleep when Nureyev slipped out of their room. He hadn't woken up until Vespa and Buddy had burst into his room, asking where the Map, Blade and Book were, and where Ransom was. It wasn't until hours later that he had found the note. ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>I'm sorry it had to be this way’</span>
  </em>
  <span> wasn't much of a goodbye, but it was better than nothing, Juno supposed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He'd rehearsed a million different speeches. The angry speech. The sad speech. The "please, just come back, I love you," speech. But facing down the man who, despite everything, he still loved with every fibre of his being, he couldn't even get his mouth to move.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They stared at each other. Juno tried to imagine what Nureyev's expression might look like if he could see it. His stance wasn't Peter Nureyev, or any of the million aliases Juno had seen. It was more "deer-in-the-headlights" than anything. After a few seconds of the loudest silence in Juno's life, Nureyev straightened up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I suppose we have nothing left to say to one another." He laughed, but it was a horrible, hollow, false sound that twisted Juno's stomach. His voice was almost sad, but like the laugh, it was so empty that it hardly carried any emotion at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"...I guess not." It was a lie. Juno knew it, and he was pretty sure Nureyev knew it too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nureyev had picked up a throwing knife, and was clearly poised to throw. Juno double checked that his blaster was set to stun, held it up and aimed it at Nureyev. There was a moment of hesitation—the calm before the storm—before Nureyev threw his knife and Juno fired his blaster, and everything was motion at once. Nureyev was drawing and throwing knives faster than seemed humanly possible, and Juno was firing as quickly as he could approximately line up his shots. He felt a knife rip a gash in his arm as he tried to take a second to aim properly. He felt exposed, with Nureyev aiming down from the balcony at him, but he couldn’t let himself stop and look for cover.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t until Nureyev reached for a throwing knife only to find nothing there that Juno got even a second to strategise. Nureyev ran for the stairs down to Juno’s level, but before he reached the last stair Juno fired several blasts into the rusty metal supports, collapsing the staircase. Juno replaced his blaster cartridge as Nureyev stood up. It clicked into place as Nureyev ran at him, dagger in hand. And suddenly, with Nureyev inches away and swinging a knife at him, Juno found his voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why are you doing this, Nureyev?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He laughed, the same hollow laugh as before. “A little late for questioning, isn’t it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe, but better late than never.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you want me to </span>
  <em>
    <span>tell</span>
  </em>
  <span> you? Or can you just not bear to not have answers, </span>
  <em>
    <span>detective?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not a detective anymore.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“In name, maybe, but you never stopped needing to </span>
  <em>
    <span>know</span>
  </em>
  <span>, did you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nureyev had stepped back, circling Juno, dodging his shots, clearly considering what to do next. Juno followed him with his eye, keeping a close watch on his knife.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re really breaking my heart here, Nureyev.” Juno meant for that to come out as a snappy detective one-liner, but he could hear the emotion creeping into his voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I suppose we’re even now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then Nureyev lunged, aiming for his chest with the knife. Juno easily sidestepped, then, suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his blaster hand. He saw a small flash of metal in Nureyev’s other hand, and felt his grip on the blaster loosen even as he grit his teeth trying to keep a hold on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Shit. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Can’t believe I fell for that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t believe you did eit—” Juno punched Nureyev in the face with his injured hand. He instantly felt more pain as the glass of the visor embedded into his skin. Nureyev reeled backwards, and Juno picked up his blaster in his uninjured hand. Nureyev straightened up, and Juno could see half of his face through the hole in his visor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Was I part of the plan?” Juno asked as Nureyev turned to look at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What if I said you were?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t believe you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nureyev sighed. “No, you weren’t part of the plan. If anything, you were in my way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What, does caring about the people you’re betraying make turning on them harder?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nureyev flinched ever so slightly. “Of course it does. I’m not a monster.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know you’re not, Nureyev.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I— You shouldn’t be here now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not here for you. We didn’t know you were here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I mean—The warehouse is rigged to blow on a timer in case of a break-in.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...Fuck.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We only have—” Nureyev checked his comms. “seven minutes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ok. Let me get the Globe. It’s still in that case, right?” Juno gestured to the case on the table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you really think they’d be dumb enough to keep it in the same case Buddy was keeping it in?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So that’s a yes, then?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nureyev raised his knife again. “I’m sorry, Juno, but I can’t let you have it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Juno raised his blaster. “Nureyev. I need the globe. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Please, </span>
  </em>
  <span>just—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just what? If I let you take the globe, they'll kill me. If I go back to the Carte Blanche, whoever gets to me first will kill me. No matter which happens my anonymity is gone, and whatever good it may have done for Brahma goes with it... So what do you want from me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please, Nureyev, just... not this.” There was so much he wanted to know, wanted to ask, but Nureyev was right. It was too late now, and there was too much at stake. So Juno fired at Nureyev and ran for the case on the table. He managed to grab onto it with his still bleeding hand, but in the moment his back was turned, Nureyev grabbed him and held his knife to Juno’s throat. For a second, Juno’s life flashed before his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then, in a motion so small he almost thought he'd imagined it, Nureyev pulled the blade away from his throat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please, Juno, hand over the G—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Juno took his blaster and fired a stun blast behind him into Nureyev. He slumped, knife falling to the floor. Juno awkwardly caught Nureyev before he hit the floor hard too, then lifted him with some considerable difficulty into a fireman’s carry, holding onto him for dear life. He grabbed the handle of the case and began running for the exit, trying to count in his head. Had it been three minutes? Four? Five? He didn’t even calm down when he was out of the facility, still running away from the building. It wasn’t until an ear-shattering blast came from behind him that Juno slowed down and pulled out his comms. He called for a lift with some difficulty, but he still couldn’t bring himself to let go of Nureyev. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He barely registered any time passing before the Ruby 7 pulled up outside the smouldering remains of the facility. Juno could see Jet in the driver’s seat, and Vespa in the passenger’s seat. They both visibly sighed in relief when they saw Juno, holding out the case containing the Globe, but he saw both of them immediately tense again as they saw something over his shoulder. Vespa got out of the car and walked towards him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Steel, is that—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Vespa—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tell me that’s not who I think it is.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Juno pushed the remains of his visor up and his mask down. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Vespa, please.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>She froze, looking at his expression.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Steel, you can’t expect us to—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not asking you to trust him. I’m not even asking you to save his life, he’s just out cold, and I know we can’t trust him, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>please—” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Juno could feel tears running down his face— “please, I can’t just leave him to die here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Vespa glared hard at him, and Juno gripped onto Nureyev as if he was about to be ripped from his arms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...Just get him in the car and make sure he stays out cold til we can get him in the brig.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Juno let out a sigh of relief. “I can do that."</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Juno stood outside the door to the brig. He knew he wanted to talk to Nureyev—needed to, really—but now he was about to, he could feel the anxiety mounting. He took a deep breath. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck it</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he thought, </span>
  <em>
    <span>no point in putting it off.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Nureyev looked up as soon as he entered. "Juno, I—I assumed you didn't want to see me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Took a few days for the others to decide they trusted either of us enough to let me be alone with you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh." Nureyev paused, clearly thinking about what he was going to say. "Juno, I— I understand if, given the circumstances, you don't believe anything I say. I'm sure Buddy has told the rest of the crew what I told her."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You joined the crew because you figured the profits of Buddy Aurinko's crimes would pay your debts nicely, you didn't realise Buddy was going to be so insistent on the whole family thing, you had no idea I was joining, you didn't think they'd be stealing things in order to help people, but you still had to pay off your debts or have your name put out there."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nureyev blinked at him. "...I didn't tell Buddy all of that."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And Buddy didn't tell me all of that, but I'd like to think I know you pretty well at this point."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nureyev laughed nervously. "I suppose so." He paused for thought again. "I should have told you, I know. And I'm sorry. For so many things. I'm sorry I hurt you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, Vespa said anything you did physically isn't going to do any permanent damage. Said she might do some permanent damage if I let you betray us again," he said, in a somewhat joking tone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Even if I still intended to, I rather doubt I'd have the opportunity."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh yeah, we're in deep space, Rita changed the password to the escape pod, Vespa did a bunch of other stuff, I don't know, I wasn't really listening at that point. I mean, you could probably still find some way out, but I was told not to encourage you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'd imagine Vespa knows the escape routes as well as I do, if not better. There aren't that many. Four in deep space, under normal conditions.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Huh. Vespa said there were five."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Exactly." Nureyev laughed. "God, that's going to </span>
  <em>
    <span>bother</span>
  </em>
  <span> me now. I thought I'd thought of everything."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'd ask her, but I don't think she'd be particularly open to answering."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I don't believe either of us needs to do more to make her distrustful of us. Still, the thought's in my head now. Perhaps some quirk of the ship's design I'm not aware of…" Juno raised an eyebrow. "Oh, don't give me that look. I'm not planning on running again—From a purely practical perspective, of course. After all of this, I don't imagine my debtors will trust me to have any intention of paying them back." He sighed. "Speaking of Vespa, she told me what happened after you stunned me. Thank you for saving me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I couldn't just leave you there. Hell, pretty sure I still owed you one for saving my ass from Miasma. Guess we're even now."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nureyev spoke with fondness in his tone. "I don't believe you saved me out of any sense of obligation. You didn't save me because I'm me, you saved me because you're you." He sighed. "Juno, please just believe me when I say I wasn't lying about loving you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I believe you." Juno breathed deeply. "I love you too. Don't get me wrong, I'm still mad at you—"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"—that's fair—"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"—just…" Juno sighed. "Remember you don't have to do things alone?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes, I believe I may have learned my lesson on that front."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You better have, cause I'm not as young as I used to be, I don't think my heart can put up with that much stress again—"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just then, Vespa's voice came over the intercom. "Steel? You two done kissing in there?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Real mature, Vespa. I'll be out in a minute," he responded. Then, once the intercom light went off, he said "Didn't think my time was up already."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Does she think if she doesn't let you stay in here too long I won't have the chance to seduce you into breaking me out?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Something like that. Also, I'm pretty sure most of your chores got given to me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I apologize."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"They don't take that long. You just don't know how to clean properly." Juno got up to leave. "I'll be back, Nureyev."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Goodbye, Juno. I'll see you soon."</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>last time i put a joke in here to get people to comment and someone commented on the joke and not the fic so no more nice things</p><p>detailed cw: juno and peter have a physical fight in which both injure the other, but neither is aiming to kill. they're also kind of ambiguously broken up.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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